Are you pregnant again after having preeclampsia once already in a previous pregnancy? Post your thoughts/concerns here - there are others who share your feelings. This is also the home of our Bedrest Buddies Support group.

The ultrasound yesterday went quite well! They were able to see the baby's heart, which was of course a tremendously good feeling! They measured the pregnancy at 7 weeks, 1 day, which is in the range of what I figured. I didn't get a lot of other info, as it was really only an ultrasound to date the pregnancy, but just seeing the heart made it all seem more real. Now to just keep my BP down, keep my thyroid up.... Thanks again to all for your good thoughts about the US!

Interesting, Suzanne! I'd never heard that taking prenatal vitamins at the same time as thyroid meds was a problem, but I usually take them at different times anyway. I do notice a difference in how I feel if I take my thyroid meds too soon after eating (or vice versa), but I'm not sure whether that translates into a measurable difference in TSH. Good luck tomorrow, and congratulations!

Thanks for your good thoughts about the US tomorrow! I am very nervous about it, but eager too. Thanks for the info about the baby aspirin also, Therese and Julie. I hadn't heard of the MTHFR mutation---I will have to research that! I know that PE runs in my father's family. My aunt was hospitalized with both her pregancies for months, and my great-grandmother actually died after childbirth from seizures (which I am assuming were eclampsia, that was around 1920).

I got a call today that my thyroid levels were very low. I have been on Levoxyl for hypothyroidism for a few years now. The dose was raised 4 months ago or so, but the most recent testing showed high TSH levels again. The nurse that called said it might be from taking my prenatal vitamins at the same time as the thyroid medication---so I have to try taking them seperately for a week and then if the TSH levels are still off, will have to have a serious dose adjustment. Do any of you have thyroid problems? I have always felt it's all tied together somehow---being as hypothyroidism is another auto-immune problem, but haven't had a medical person confirm that!

Thanks again! I will write tomorrow after the US. Best thoughts to all of you!

Suzanne (and DH Tony, and William, age 9, severe PE, born at 32 weeks, and Freddy, age 6, fairly typical pregnancy, and Baby boy or girl, due around 8/20 or SO!

Congratulations, Suzanne! Welcome to the group! I can't wait to hear about the US on Friday! I am homozygous for the MTHFR gene mutation, so I take a baby aspirin a day. Now that I'm pg ( just 4 weeks or so) I will have to have heparin shots starting at about six weeks. I'm not sure if I will continue the aspirin or not. I go tomorrow to talk about the heparin and that's one question I have for the dr.

I have had consults with 3 different doctors and they have all recommended baby aspirin for my situation. By doing more research I have learned that for every study that says aspirin looks promising, there is one that says it does nothing... I would guess that the fact that women come down with pe for soooooo many different reasons has something to do with that. Interesting though, one doctor directed that I take the aspirin before ever even looking at my file so, I wonder if it may be a blanket therapy for some doctors.

Thanks so much for your kind words of support! It means a lot to me. It will be great to have other women going through this with me!

My appt. yesterday was fairly good. The OB is the same one I saw wiht my 2nd son. She is not a high risk OB, but quite experienced and not afraid to refer when necessary! She DID tell me to go back on the baby aspirin, which I was glad of. My BP was 120/70 which made me happy (my normal BP is quite low, when not pregnant!) and my urine had no protein. She did an ultrasound with her office machine, which she said was the cheapo $10,000 model, and had a hard time finding the sac with the baby, was unsure what was the ovaries and what was the baby! Which she told me might be the case. But what she thought was probably the baby's sac was bigger than she would have thought, and she thinks I might actually be 8 weeks along instead of 6. Which would put the due date around mid-August. I am going to have a dating US on Friday at another office with a better machine.

I am wondering about the aspirin---are most of you taking it or not? I got so much conflicting info on that. My dr. seemed to feel it was sort of a given, but nurses I talked to and others said it's not done much anymore?

Suzanne,
Happy you found us here! You will find great support from all the ladies here. I am also due in August with my 4th baby. My last pregnancy was filled with hypertension nightmare, so I can relate to the feelings of worry. There are a few others that are due at the same time. I am sure they will introduce themselves as well.
Keep us updated and wishing you all the best!